Family duties
by SnowMiser1825
Summary: The Earth Kingdom has fallen, Zuko and Azula are working together, and the Avatar is no more. A new character comes to give Aang news, but is hard to trust, for she is hunted by a ruthless assassin of the Fire Nation. The news could save the world or ruin
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for two that will come in during the next chapter.**

**This takes place after the fall of Ba Sing Se and the 'death' of Aang.**

**Please let me know if I have misspelled any characters or if you think I have not done justice to the characters  
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Chapter 1

Aang sat on the edge of a cliff over looking the earth kingdom's vast land, his eyes glued to the clouds that drifted by. The weather was warm, with a cool breeze that wrapped around his body as thoughts of what happened in the past year whirled in his head. It had been one of the most trying years of his life, he was starting to master Earth, a difficult element for him to master, and he had a new enemy. Although Zuko was banished, he still hunted Aang, but he wasn't alone in this anymore, now Aang was being hunted by Zuko's sister, Azula. One of the most vicious fire benders Aang had ever met. For a long while, it seemed that the task of defeating the Fire Nation would never happen, they were just too powerful for one, lone air bender to take on, but what other choice did he have? He was the Avatar, and he was meant to bring peace to the world. A heavy burden for someone only 13 years old to carry around on his shoulders. But he had no choice, Aang was born the Avatar and it was his job... until now. He had failed. Aang was killed while fighting Azula and Zuko, well, only temporary. Katara had saved his life by using the water from the Spirit Oasis in the North Pole, but he had still died. The Avatar line was now over because Aang wasn't strong enough to fight Azula. Now it was about survival as the Fire Nation began to engulf the other nations.

The wind blew violently, blowing Aang's clothes around his body, but he never moved, he sat perfectly still. His eyes merely traveled around his surroundings, in front of him was nothing but blue skies, with a few clouds, below him were trees as far as the eye could see, but behind him, where the trail to the cliff went down, Aang could see Katara. She was practicing her water bending, because she feared Azula and Zuko would come back to make sure Aang was dead, which was not likely. It had been almost a year since Aang fought the siblings and they still had not come for him, why would they? Azula knew that her lightening bolt had struck Aang through the heart. How could they have known that there was a way to save him? The water splashed behind him and Aang could feel his heart sink. Katara spent all her time practicing her bending, Toph would eventually join her with her earth bending, but normally it was Katara. Aang hadn't tried bending since the accident. He couldn't bare the though of not being able to air bend, it was what he was born with, but now it was gone, without a doubt. Aang took in a deep breath and fought back some tears. It was hard enough knowing that Aang had failed the world, it was actually unbearable to know such a thing, but it hurt even more to know that he failed his friends and the memory of the air benders. Aang ran a hand over his smooth, bald head and thought that it was only a matter of time until Toph, Sokka, and Katara left him and at that though, despite the warm weather, Aang felt cold.

"Aang! Sokka and Toph are back with news about the Fire nation." Katara's voice was so full of life, excitement, something Aang had lost. She must have felt good about her training session and the idea of catching the fire nation thrilled her. Katara looked off, with Sokka and Toph behind her, toward Aang, whose eyes were still glued to the sunset as he pushed himself off the ground.

"He still hasn't tried to air bend?" Sokka leaned close to Katara and whispered into her ear. Toph turned her head in their direction, though she couldn't see them, she knew where they stood from their vibrations on the earth and their words. Katara hung her head in defeat.

"No.. I don't understand why." Katara turned her head to look over where Appa, Aang's large flying bison, and MoMo, a flying lemur, sat by the fire. Appa looked over to Katara after watching MoMo throw sticks into the fire and he let out a friendly roar. Katara smiled weakly at him as Toph kicked a pebble away from her feet.

"He probably thinks that his air bending abilities came from his Avatar powers. Maybe he can't air bend anymore. Toph's clouded blue eyes followed where the pebble landed and she stomped her foot to knock it off the ground. She then stopped the pebble and turned her head slightly from where Aang was walking. "He's not walking the same anymore, no more twinkle toes. Now he's walking heavy, like he's got a boulder on his shoulders... He's ashamed." Toph slowly made her way to where the fire was, stopping a few feet from it when she could feel the heat on her hands. Sokka examined Aang as he made his way down to where the group was. His head hung low, as did the rest of his body as if it were tired. Sokka only scratched his ear and shrugged.

"Hey Aang." Sokka attempted to sound as though he were calm, but his voice cracked at the end of his greeting, at the beginning of Aang's name. Aang's grey eyes barely looked up to see who had greeted him and he did not return the gesture, he merely kept walking with a bland expression across his face. Sokka's eyes turned to Katara in concern, who sighed heavily.

"Aang, Sokka and Toph have some information on the fire nation's next move.." Katara's voice was as gentle as ever as she placed a hand lovingly on Aang's shoulder. He could feel the warm sensation running through his body, normally this touch would redden his cheeks, but now, it only made him feel ashamed. He doomed the world, despite the fact that it was his job to save it. Aang nodded to Katara and sat down at Appa's feet. Katara sat herself down by her tent as her eyes followed Sokka and Toph as they took a seat next to one another on the ground. Sokka cleared his throat and picked up a stick from the ground and started drawing Xs into the ground.

"Okay, since Azula and Zuko took over Ba Sing Se the Fire Nation has relaxed a little, because there's nothing else to attack. The North Water Tribe is virtually safe from attack because of it's location, Zhao was the only fire bender crazy enough to do it." Sokka drew a representation of Ba Sing Se, by drawing circled within circles to show the walls of the it. Then, high above the representation of Ba Sing Se, Sokka drew walls with waves below them, the Northern Water Tribe.

"But there's something going on in the fire nation. We managed to over hear a conversation between Azula and Zuko.. Or at least I was, Sokka was too busy being a baby." Sokka's eyes narrowed at Toph, who continued to look straight ahead of her, unaware of Sokka's eyes.

"I was hungry!" Sokka voice whined in defense to Toph's comment. Katara's eyes then landed on Sokka, just as Toph had turned her head in his direction. Sokka looked at the annoyance in Katara's eyes and decided it keep his mouth shut, Toph merely smirked.

"Anyways.." Toph turned her head straight again and wiped the smirk off her face. She then took a deep breath, stomped her foot, and flattened her hand to bend the earth beneath her to make a seat. She then sat down and reached her hands out to the warmth of the flames. "They mentioned something about an assassin hunting someone." Aang's held tilted up to look at Toph then to Katara.

"What else did they say?" Katara's eyes broke from Aang's gaze to question Toph, who only shrugged her shoulders.

"They were talking a lot of nonsense.. But I heard them say something about the assassin going after the last of a dying people.." Toph's grey-green eyes landed on Aang, despite the fact that she couldn't see. "Guess that's you Twinkle Toes." Toph kicked back in her seat and closed her eyes, her arms folded behind her head for a pillow. Katara shook her head.

"That can't be it..." Katara looked down thoughtfully, she knew something wasn't right and Aang trusted her instincts, but he was the last airbender, which Sokka again pointed out.

"Katara, it has to be Aang.. It's the only thing that makes sense." Sokka pulled off his left boot and began shaking dirt and rock from it, his eyes staring down to the sole of the shoe to be certain that all the dirt was out. "Aang is the last airbender. Last of a dying people..." As Sokka finished his sentence, he placed his face directly under the shoe just in time for a small rock to come tumbling out and hit him in the head. Sokka jumped back in pain, but Katara ignored this is continued.

"But they already think Aang is dead. Azula and Zuko didn't follow us to see me heal him.. There is no way that they're hunting Aang." Katara paused for a minute with a loom of resolve spreading across her face. Aang knew this look, he had known it ever since they went into hiding and Katara became more determined to fight the Fire Nation. Katara was planning an attack right now. "Which works to our advantage." Aang looked up.

"How is that?" Aang finally spoke, his words were almost a whisper but Katara and the others reacted as if he had yelled the words directly in their ears. His grey eyes stared at the ground blankly then traveled to Katara's warm, round face. For a minute, his heart swelled at the sight of her, but he quickly looked away, killing the joy in his heart. Katara looked to Aang intently then back to the ground, her eyes side glancing to Aang.

"Well, we know how to get into Ba Sing Se.. And if we know Zuko, he'll feel the need to hunt whatever this assassin is chasing, for honor if it's a threat against the fire nation." Sokka looked over at Katara, his oval face confused looking. Katara sighed. "Zuko never caught the Avatar, the one thing that he hunted for two years."

"But he captured Ba Sing Se.." Toph kicked her foot against the ground and then pushed her foot down gently, to feel the vibrations before they went away. Her eyes turned to the forest then looked away again.

"Well, technically, not. Azula had captured the city, Zuko was just there to help her fight us in the end." Katara folded her arms across her chest as a strange wind blew past them and back into the forest. Aang closed his eyes and took in the wind. "Of course, Azula will go with Zuko to hunt this, to make sure he doesn't fail again and make her look bad.." Aang again spoke, his voice still gentle.

"How are we going to get in?" Aang looked over to Toph and only Toph, because, though she could see through earth bending, her eyes couldn't see the pain in his like the others could. Toph turned her head to the sound of his voice then nodded.

"With earth bending.." Aang raised his head to see Sokka nodding and Katara raising an eyebrow.

"But the Dai Li?" Katara spoke, but as the word a came from his mouth a sarcastic smirk spread across Toph's expression.

"We know, Princess." Toph folded her hands together, then stretched them out far in front of her until her knuckles cracked, then she laid back again in her earth made seat. "Not all the Dai Li are happy with being Fire Nation lackeys. So a lot of them have agreed to help us break through the walls and sneak back into the city two weeks from now. After sun set." Toph reached next to her and picked up a bag full of berries. Slowly, she began popping them into her mouth until MoMo came over and began sniffing around her hands. She then began handing them to MoMo. Katara's jaw clenched into a tight smile at the idea of this. Sokka took out some of his blubber seal jerky and began stuffing his face.

"Yeah. Omashu has already overthrown the fire nation, I guess king Bumi had planned it all out. The Fire Nation was kicked out almost a month ago, but Ozai doesn't know yet, because Bumi had all communications cut. No way to get a message out." Sokka watched as Katara clasped her hands together. Sokka nodded then made his way over to his sleeping bag, still chomping on the seal jerky he yawned. "We have to wait for Omashu to send us word, to let us know if they're helping or not." Sokka climbed into his sleeping bag, and for a brief second let go of his food, which was long enough for MoMo to come and take it. "Good night." Within seconds, Sokka was snoring.

"We might as well get comfortable.." Toph stomped her feet on the ground and raised her arm diagonally in the air to make an earth tent. She yawned and made her way into it. "And try to keep it down out there. I don't want to start hearing mushy talk while I'm trying to sleep." Toph then walked into the tent and stomped her foot again to make a door, leaving Aang and Katara alone.

"Aang.." Katara reached over to touch Aang's shoulder but he had already made a motion to sleep, he rolled over on his side and tucked his hands under his head for a pillow.

"Good night, Katara." His words were so empty, without feeling that Katara felt a sting in her heart. It hurt to see Aang in so much pain, but he wouldn't talk to her and as she reached her hand out to touch him, his body only curled into a tighter ball, as if afraid of her touch. Katara pulled her hand back and rolled into her sleeping bag.

"Good night, Aang. Sweet dreams." Katara was asleep within moments. Aang could hear the snoring coming from Sokka and Toph, then the light breathing from Katara, and for once he didn't feel comforted. He felt trapped. What were they doing, planning on fighting the fire nation? Aang was no longer the Avatar, he was just the last airbender, if he could even airbend that was. He shouldn't have to worry about saving the world now, it should be left up to someone else, someone who could handle the responsibility. He was only 13 years old now. This was too touch, he couldn't handle it, now alone. If only he could talk to Avatar Roku once more..


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer : I do not own any of the characters, except Aera and another to be announced next chapter. **

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Chapter 2

"This is pointless." Azula rode beside her brother on a long, low to the ground, forest green lizard, large enough to carry not only Azula on it's back but also her supplies. The creature had the appearance of something like a crocodile, but wider, instead of thicker. It's movement wasn't weighted down either, although the creature's reigns were being pulled back to slow it down almost to a walk, it's long legs and thin body made it more agile. It's head moved violently back and forth, the tongue coming at every few seconds, as if it was searching for something. Zuko's golden eyes glanced to Azula, then he looked down at his lizard with a grimace.

"We'll find the guide. She can only hide for so long." Zuko spoke low, almost to himself as his eyes scanned the rock covered valley that they move down now. Though Zuko had finally won back his honor with the conquering of Ba Sing Se, he felt the need to capture someone, anyone. He had never brought the Avatar to his father, now the Avatar was dead by his sister. This left Zuko with an incomplete feeling, as if he had failed, which only drove him to do more. Now, there was a bounty on the guide, the last thing in this world connected to the Avatar. Azula rolled her eyes.

"First of all, Zu-Zu," The nickname drove Zuko insane, as Azula knew, she used it often to get his undivided attention, or to drive him insane. Zuko's body reacted when he heard the name with a shudder. Azula's thin pink lips smirked. "The Avatar is dead... the guide has no purpose now. So why would we need this one person?" Zuko turned his head so that he could see Azula more clearly with his good eye, she was riding on his left and therefore was at his bad eye. He looked annoyed when his eyes hit her, as if she was questioning something extremely obvious.

"The family of the guides is linked to the Avatar spirit. Each member born into the family already knows everything about all the avatars before, also they know who the next Avatar will be." Zuko's voice was still low, he spoke with no emotion, his eyes scanning the area for some kind of sign that someone had passed through recently. Azula rolled her eyes and looked forward.

"Yes, but my second point... there are no more guides. The last ones were found sixteen years ago on boat sailing toward the south pole." Azula side glanced to Zuko, but when she saw no change in his expression she continued. "This is a wild goose chase." Azula stopped her lizard abruptly in front of Zuko's. Her eyes were wild with annoyance. "Why are we doing this?" Zuko held the reigns tightly in his hands as he examined Azula, then looked down to think through what he would say. His eyes then flashed up, narrowed in her direction.

"They found one more member." His voice was almost a growl as his eyes stared deep into Azula's without blinking. Azula tried to match the rage flashing in Zuko's eyes but gave up and shrugged.

"Where was the person found?" Azula's voice was only slightly interested, she still didn't see why they were hunting this person, that's what trackers were for, not royalty. Zuko's jaw clenched as he shuffled on his lizard.

"That's why we're hunting and not someone else.." Zuko almost smirked as the answer come from his lips, but he stopped himself, afraid that it was the wrong time to show how pleased he was now that he could finally capture someone and bring them to his father. "They were found by the assassin, Aera. The guide was living in the fire nation, being taught how to fire bend.." Azula's jaw dropped, but not from what Zuko thought. He had figured she was stunned by the audacity of the guide, to live in the nation that was hunting her charge, to take fire bending lessons by a master in the fire nation itself, but when Zuko noticed Azula's eyes off in the distance, he looked over his shoulder. Coming directly at them, was a huge, black shape, that neither of them could identify. It walked on four legs, but from the distance, it seemed that it had to arms flailing in the air. Both Azula and Zuko dismounted from their lizards and stood, poised to fight.

As the large black shadow closed in on Zuko and Azula, it was more clear on what it was. The site caused both Azula and Zuko to drop their arms in amazement at they looked upon something that they had thought was completely mythical. A huge black dragon with red specks glittering all over it's body, it's large face looked down at them in boredom. The creature had large fangs that touched it's bottom lip, despite the fact that it's mouth was closed. They looked more like blades than actual teeth, but despite it's awe inspiring looks, the beast was not the most incredible thing before their eyes. Even more incredible, was the dragon held; on it's scaly back was a small saddle with a petite woman there, holding onto rope that was tied around the small horns coming from the dragon's head. The girl on top of the dragon looked over at the two open mouthed people standing a few feet from here, she smirked darkly at the two that reached her eyes instantly.

"Zuko... Azula." Her seductive voice called out as she jumped off the dragon, landing on her feet by the monster's leg. Zuko examined the girl as she walked slowly toward them, like a cat. She was thin, but curved in all the right places for a woman, which was accented by her clothing; on her upper body she wore a tight fitted red shirt with the fire nation symbol barely covered by a strap that went diagonally around her upper body, to hold a sword on her back. Her legs were covered in tight fitting black tights, that were tucked into matching black stiletto boots. She slowly made her way towards Zuko and Azula with a dangerous look in her reddish-gold eyes. The dragon behind her sat completely still as it watched her approach us, but the animal was definitely ready to attack if it had to. Azula's arms dropped as her eyes landed on the girl in front of them with a look of hatred.

"Aera." Azula spit out the name as if it were something vile tasting and she did not hide it. Aera smirked evilly toward Azula, who only returned a hate filled gaze. Zuko compared the two females in front of him, though Azula was considered a fire bending prodigy, Aera was always in a category above Azula. She had master hand to hand, all weapons, and fire bending came so naturally to her that she had only needed a master in her adolescent years. There had always been a competition between the two, or only from Azula's side. Aera never felt the need to compete, being naturally good at everything involving fighting was in her blood. The family in which Aera was born into was unlike any other in the fire nation; all the females of her family had become assassins, who hunted and killed whom ever they wanted. Sometimes they would be paid to eliminate people, usually only by the rich since they were so expensive, but usually they would hunt their own victims. The reason it was a completely female assassin family was due to one thing; the females would never fall in love with a male, instead they would carefully select a mate by their abilities as a fighter or fire bender and have children until they had a daughter. When the female was done with the mate, she would kill him and any male offsprings, which didn't happen often. The family had only ever had one male in it's entire existence.

"Don't look too pleased to see me, princess." Aera used Azula's title, not to show respect, but to mock her. The assassin family had never followed the royal family, they were governed by their own laws that the fire lords had accepted for fear of crossing the family. Aera knew that Azula wouldn't try anything, because if Aera didn't kill her, Fire Lord Ozai would. Azula narrowed her eyes at Aera, so badly did she want to say something or fight back, but she couldn't. "Zuko.. I hear you're no longer banished.. Or wanted dead. Too bad. I was about to take an offer for your head." Aera shrugged her shoulders and tucked a strand of her dark red hair, that had fallen from her high pony tail, behind her ear. Zuko watched her carefully, as if afraid that she would still collect a bounty on him, somewhere, someone probably still wanted him dead.

"My father has accepted me back.." Zuko's eyes followed Aera's every movement, careful to mark any sudden movements. Aera noticed this and smirked. Zuko cleared his throat and straightened his posture, dropping his fighting stance completely in case she took it as a threat. "We hear you found a guide." Zuko's voice was low and almost inaudible. Aera figured he was used to speaking in hushed tones from his time as a wanted criminal of the fire nation. Aera nodded, her smirk fading into a serious look.

"I have, in fact, I am on the hunt as we speak." Aera stepped away from the two in front of her and made her way toward the high walls to the right of the valley. Zuko and Azula watched her every move as her hand slid on against the rocky wall onto what looked like four scratch marks in the solid stone. She looked pleased by this and gave a low whistle, which caused the dragon to tilt it's dead down and sniff the area. For a minute, the dragon sniffed the air above it, then it's head turned toward a small road and it let out a piercing scream. Aera smirked and patted it's leg. "Down, Nuri." The dragon's entire body lay on the ground, so that Aera could climb into the saddle, which she did with little difficulty. Zuko and Azula's eyes automatically glanced over toward where the dragon had pointed and screamed, that was where they needed to go, but Aera saw this and her eyes narrowed. "Don't dare follow me. This is my hunt. I know your father wants this guide alive, but I'm killing her when I find her." Azula began grinding her teeth in frustration, not wanting to have to take orders from her, but Zuko remained calm, only his eyes showed his anger. "If you get in my way... I'll kill you." With that, Aera took Nuri's reigns and slapped them viciously against the dragon's tough hide, so that it would know to go. In a moment, the dragon took off into the air and in the direction of Omashu. Azula growled in frustration.

"I do not understand why father doesn't just throw the assassins in prison." Azula watched as the dragon flew through the air until they couldn't see it any longer. The fact that the assassins could come and go as the pleased infuriated Azula. Just because they had always had the ability to fire bend, they believed they were better than everyone else, and for some reason, they were given special treatment. Azula didn't notice when Zuko turned around and climbed back onto his lizard with a stern expression.

"Because they are too illusive to be captured." Zuko had the reigns of his lizard as well as Azula's. He slowly made his way toward her and threw her the reigns. Azula's gold eyes looked confused at Zuko as she caught the reigns in her hands, what did he have planned? He moved toward the road the dragon screamed down. "We're still going to capture the guide." Azula's jaw dropped in shock, had he not heard what the assassin said. Zuko turned his head and his eyes glared down the path. "I'm not going to fail. I refuse to." Zuko lashed the reigns against the lizard's skin and it began running instantly. Azula quickly threw herself onto the saddle of her lizard and bolted toward Zuko, who didn't stop to check for her, he merely continued his way down the narrow path ahead of him.

Aera patted Nuri's neck roughly and the massive dragon stopped it's forward movement in the air, silently. Aera smirked to herself as she watch Zuko and Azula take off in the direction that would cross her path. Then she patted Nuri's neck and pulled the reigns lightly. Instantly, the dragon turned in the opposite direction of the path. Aera smirked as she thought of how Zuko and Azula would be at Omashu, by the time she had the guide in a pine box.


End file.
